Continuous player for talking machines



Jan. 22; 1924. 1,481,406

A. C. BALSON CONTINUOUS PLAYER FOR TALKING MACHINES Filed June" 19. 1922 PIIIITNESS: -/5;, A. fizz- ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 22, 1924. (I

PATENT ADRIAN CLIFFORD BALSON, 0F PHILADELPHIA, TENNSYLVANTA.

CONTINUOUS PLAYER FOR TALKING MACHINES.

Application filed June 19, 1922.

State of Pennsylvania, have invented certam new and useful Improvements in a Continuous Player for Talking Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in a continuous player for talking machines in which alternating sound boxes and needles operate in conjunction with a supporting tube with a number of sleeves thereon, the sound box needles being caused to engage alternately the talking machine record by means of a counter-balancing weight operated by trigger pins and a spiral governor placed on the center of the record. This application relates to improvements made to the device covered by the application allowed to me on April 24, 1922, Serial Number 436,747. The parts mentioned. in the within specification and set forth in the drawings filed therewith which are old are as follows, to wit:

The supporting tube 8, is old in part but is new far as concerns the grooves 3232 and is also new as far as concerns the slots in the top and bottom of this supporting tube for the passage of the trigger pins, and is also new so far as concerns the enlargement at its center.

The sound boxes are old.

The sound box sleeves are in part old and in part new, that is they are new so far as concerns the lug on each, through which passes the adjustment rod 17 with right and left hand threads, and these sound box sleeves are also new so far as concerns the slots at the top and bottom of each for the passage of the trigger pins.

The trigger pin sleeves are in part old but are new so far as concerns the lugs with the right and left hand threads, through which passes the adjustment rod 17, and are also new so far as concerns the hole at the top and bottom of each, through which the trigger pins are pushed upward by the action of the governor. These old parts are shown in the drawings and mentioned in the specifica- Serial No. 569,303.

tion, as they must necessarily be used in cooperating with the new parts of the device.

The other parts of the device described in the within specification are new. r, The objects of my invention are first to provide means whereby a needle of the sound box with the exception of about half a second is continuously in contact with the talking machine record; second, to afford facilities for the accurate adjustment of the device, whereby records of different diameters may be played by a continuous talking machine player, and third, to provide means whereby a trigger pin when the record is en tirely played by one needle, will throw the counter-balancing weight over in such a way as to lift that needle off the record and place another needle upon the record at the beginning thereof; fourth, to provide means whereby a see-sawing mercury weight tube will exert pressure upon the needle of a sound box thus allowing the use of a lighter weight sound box than is in ordinary use without interfering with the sound value of the talking machine; fifth, to provide means whereby the needle of a sound box is placed upon the record so softly that the playing, life of both the needle and record are lengthened.

I attain these objects by the mechanical means in my prior application set forth herein, and also by the mechanical means set forth in the illustrations in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a frontal view of the whole device. I

Figure 2 is a top View of the whole device looking down upon it from the right hand side of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a top view of the spiral governor.

Figure a is a viewv of part of the tone arm of the talking machine showing the manner in which the device is attached to the tone arm.

Figure 5 is a side view of the right hand sound box shown in Fig. 1 looking from the right hand side of the machine. Fig. 5 also shows the end of the counter-balancing weight and the top of one of the trigger pins.

Figure 6 is a side view of the left hand sound box looking at it from the right hand side. This view also shows the end of the counter-balancing weight and also the trigger pin on the left hand side of the device.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In Fig. 1-, 1 is a disc record of a talking machine. 6 is a short tube connecting the supporting tube 8 with a which connects with the tone arm of the talking machine. 8 is the supporting tube having at its center an enlargement and which enlargement on its front has two small grooves to permit the turning of .two wheels with knurled edges 27 and 27 by which adjustment rod 17 is turned. 9 is a small pin in the sound box sleeve 11 to prevent rotary movement and slides in groove 32 in 8. 10 is a small pin in sound box sleeve 12 to prevent rotary movement and slides in groove 32 i118. 11

is the sound box sleeve on the left hand side of the device looking at the device from the front. It extends from a point inside the shoulder of the sound box 19 along and around the supporting tube 8 to a point a short distance from the enlargement of 8 at the center. 12 is the right hand soundbox sleeve looking at the device from the front and extends from. a point inside the shoulder of the sound box 20along and around the supporting tube 8 to a point a short distance from the enlargement of .8 at the center. 13 is the trigger pin sleeve on the left hand side of the device and surrounds part of the sound box sleeve 11 and acts as a unit with sound box sleeve 12 and is always maintained at the same distance from the needle in sound box 20. The members 13-and 12 are connected by means of the adjustment rod 17 which passes through lugs attached to them respectively, so that when 27- 27 are turned 13 and 12 move in the same direction and are always equidistant from each other. 1 1 is the trigger pin sleeve on the right hand side of the device and surrounds part of sound box sleeve 12 and acts as a unit with sound box sleeve 11 and is always maintained at the same distance from theneedle insound box 19. The members 14 and 11 are connected by means of the adjustment rod 17 which passes through lugs attached to them respectively, so that when 27-27 are turned 1 1 and 11 move in the same direction and are always equidistant from each other. The operation of this adjustment system is that when one of the trigger pins is held stationary against the side of the spiral governor, the sound box on the opposite side is also held stationary'and the whole movement caused by tui-ning27'27 .is in the soundbox on the same side, the trigger .pin on the opposite side and in the tone arm 2. 15 is the trigger pin on the left hand side of the device. it

iasiaoe runs through holes at the top and bottom of the trigger pin sleeve 13, and through slots at the top and bottom of sound box sleeve 11 and the supporting tube 8 and its head comes in contact with the bottom of the counter-balancing mercury .weight tube in such a manner as to push the mercury weight tube up and gives to the latter an oscillating movement when the trigger pin is pushed straight up by the revolution of the spiral governor 37. The slots in 11 and 8 allow a sidewise movement of the trigger pin sleeve 13 upon the under-lying sound box sleeve 11 and the supporting tube 8. 16 is the trigger pin on the right hand side of the device. It runs through holes at the top and bottom of the trigger pin sleeve 14:, through slots at the top and bottom of sound box sleeve 12 and the supporting tube 8 and its head comes in contact with the bottom of the counter-balancing mercury weight tube in such a manner as to push the weight tube up and gives to the latter an oscillating movement when the trigger pin is pushed straight up by the revolution of the spiral governor 37. The slots in 12 and 8 allow a sidewise movement of the trigger pin sleeve 14 upon the underlying sound box sleeve 12 and the supporting tube 8. 17 is the adjustment rod on front of the device. It is attached to sound box sleeve 12 by means of lug 28 annexed to 12 and at the point of passage through lug 28 it has a right hand thread. This adjustment rod is also attached by means of lug 29 to trigger pin sleeve 141- and at the point of passage through lug 29 annexed to 1 1 it has upon it a left hand thread. This adjustment rod is also attached by means of lug 30 to sound box sleeve 11 and at the point of passage through lug 30 annexed to 11 it has a left hand thread. It is also connected by means of an annexed lug 31 to trigger pin sleeve 13 and at i the point of passage through lug 31 it has upon it a right hand thread. By means of this mechanism the adjustment rod always maintains trigger pin 15 at the same distance from the needle of the sound box 20 and also always maintains trigger pin 16 at the same distance from the needle of the sound box 19, trigger pin sleeve 13 and sound box sleeve 12 work as a unit and trigger pin sleeve 1 1 and sound box sleeve 11 also work as a unit under the control of said adjustment rod. This rod has upon it at a point near its centre two small wheels with knurled edges 2727 for the purpose of turning it. The object of this adjustment rod is to adjust the device to disc records of varying sizes. 18 is a mercury weight tube which rests on a pivot screw 21. This tube contains a certain amount of mercury as shown by 2 1 and is so adjusted that when the trigger pin on one side lifts one end of the weight tube, it throws the mercury into the other end of the weight tube, thus causing an oscillating motion of the weight tube which tilts down upon the device at its other end, thereby forcing one needle off the record and forcing the other needle upon the record. 19 is the sound box on the left hand side with playing needle pointing to the rear. 20. is the sound box on the right hand side with playing needle pointing to the front. 21 is the pivot screw that holds 18 in place on projected bearing of short tube 6 and another projected bearing on 18. 37 is the spiral governor which is placed upon the center of the record and held there by a spring clip 23, which grips the spindle of the turn-table of the talking machine, also upon which spiral governor is a bevelled surface 22, which runs down flush with the record. This bevelled surface gradually merges into a spiral cam 36, and the bevelled surface 22 and spiral cam 36 have cut in them groove 35, which corresponds with the lines on the record. The spiral governor 37 revolves with the record and w ion the trigger pin or 16 mount the bevelled surface 22 and spiral cam 36 along the lines of the groove 85, the trigger p-in produces an oscillating movement of the mercury weight tube 18, which in turn lifts the needle of one sound box off the record at the end thereof and places in play at the commencement of the record the other sound b0): needle. 21 is a pivot screw that runs through projecting bearing 38 on tube 18 and through projecting bearing 39 attached to short tube 6. 22 is the bevelled surface of spiral governor 37. 23 is a spring clip which holds spiral governor 37 in proper place on the turn-table spindle. 524 is the mercury in the tube 18. 25 is a small steel spring which is seated on 15 and presses against the side of the slots in the sound box sleeve and in the supporting tube, the object of which is to hold 15 at the highest position to which it has been forcedby the action of spiral governor 37, thus also holding 15 away from the spiral governor 37 after 15 has performed its function of producing a see-saw motion of the mercury weight tube 18. 26 is a small steel spring seated on 16 and presses against the side of the slots in the sound box sleeve and in the supporting tube, the object of which is to hold 16 at the highest position to which it has been forced. by the action of spiral governor 37, thus also holding 16 away from the spiral governor 37 after 16 has performed its function of producing a see-saw mot-ion of the mercury weight tube 18. 2727 are two small wheels with knurled edges placed on either side of the centre of adjustment rod 17. The two small grooves out in the enlargement of 8 at its center are for the purpose of permitting free rotary -motion of 2727, and for the purpose of preventing any lateral move ment of the adjustment rod 17; the adjustment rod between 27-27 is enlarged, thereby making it unnecessary to have a hearing at that point. 28 is the lug on sound box trigger pin sleeve 14. 30 is a lug on sound box sleeve 11 and has in it a left hand thread through which passes adjustment rod 17 and moves sound b0): sleeve 11 when 17 is turned. 31 is a lug on trigger pin sleeve 13 and has in it a right hand thread through which adjustment rod 17 passes and moves trigger pin sleeve 18 when 17 is turned. 8232 are grooves in lower side of the supporting tube 8. 37 is the spiral governor in place on the center of the talking ma: chine record when trigger pin 15 is about to be pushed straight upward and to see-saw mercury weight tube 18. 38 is a projecting bearing on bottom of tube 18. 39 is a projecting bearing on top of short tube 6.

Figure 2 is a top view of the whole device, in which 2 is the tone arm broken off. 3 is a screw which holds the tone arm 2 and elbow tube at together. 4: is the elbow tube connecting 6 with tone arm 2. 5 is a small screw in 6 that holds 4L and 6 together and that moves in slot in 1 to allow adjustments for different length machines. 7 is a small screw that holds 6 and 8 together. 3282 are grooves in bottom of supportingtube 8.

33 is the prong attached to t and rests under tone arm 2 preventing the device from falling down on the record thus permitting adjustment of the whole device'for tone arms of varying heights.

Figure 3 is a view of the spiral governor by itself.

To understand the mechanism of this device it is necessary to place the disc record of the talking machine on the revolving table, after which place the spiral governor upon the center of'the record so that the proj ecting spindle of the turn-table fits the hole in the spiral governor and have the clip spring 23 securely engage the spindle. Then place the trigger pin 15 upon the sp' algovernor at the point where groove begins to ascend the spiral cam 36, observing that said trigger pin is held securely against the side fgovernor 37. Then adjust the device by means of adjustment rod 17 so that the needle of sound box 19 will be at the end of the last musical line of the record. .Vhen this is done it will be found that the needle of sound box 20 will strike the first musical line of the record when it is put in play. The

record is now started in motion and trigger pin 15 is forced by the spiral cam ofthe governor straight upward and its head strikes the bottom of mercury weight tube 18. This causes a see-saw motion of the weight tube 18 and the mercury 24; i the tube flows from the left hand end of the weight tube to the right hand end of the tube. This forces down trigger pin 16 and also forces down sound box 20 so that the needle thereof engages the record. At the same time the needle of sound box 19 disengages the record, and the whole device propelled by the lines of the record, moves towards the left and the music comes from sound box 20 through the tubes 8, 6 and 1 into the tone arm 2. When the needle of sound box 20 reaches'the end of themusic, trigger pin 16 mounts the bevelled surface 22 of the spiral governor until it is forced straight upward and strikes the bottom of mercury weight tube 18, see-sawing this tube so ha he mercury runs to the lefthand end, thereby forcing down trigger pin 15 and sound box 19 so that the needle of sound box 19 engages the record. Spring 26 holds trigger pin 16 in place until itis forced down by the operation of the see-saw motion of the mercury weight tube 18. When trigger pin 15 is pushed upward by the spiral governor 37, spring 25 holds it in place until it is forced down by the operation of-the seesaw motion of'the mercury weight tube 18. The see-saw operation of the mercury weight tube 18 forces alternately one needle off the record d the other needle upon the record as long as it is desired to play the-machine or until the machine stops.

I claim,

1. In a continuous player device for a talking machine the combination of a disc record fora talking machine, a spiral governor placed in the center of the record, a bevelled surface on the spiral governor coming down flush with the record'andmerging into a cam, and provided with ayguiding groove graduated to correspond with the lines on the face of a talking machine 'record, a tone arm of a talking machine,:a tube pivoted at right angles to he tone arm f the talking machine horizontally above the record, an adjustment rod with two right hand and two left hand threads thereon, an oscillating mercury weight tube. two sound boxes with needles, two-sound box. sleeves with lugs adapted to co-operate with the adjustmentrod, two trigger pin sleeves with lugs adapted to co-operate with the a'djustmentrod, two alternating, vertically moving trigger pins adapted to co-operate between the mercury weight tube and the spiralgovernor, a steel spring seated on eaclrtrigger pin, two wheels with knurled edges on the adjustment rod, adapted to co-operate with the adjustment rod and with the lugs on the two sound box sleeves and on the trigger pin sleeves, substantially as described.

2. In a continuous player device for a talking machine the combination of a disc record of a talking machine, a tone arm, an elbow tube telescoped into the head of the tone arm, which elbow tube cooperates with the tone arm to hold the whole device at the proper height above the disc record, a short connecting tube telescoped into the lbow.

tube, a supporting tube pivoted on the short connecting tube, a screw between the elbow tube andthe short connecting tube adapted to hold theconnecting tube and the elbow tube in place, an oscillating mercury weight tube balanced on a pivot screw above the supporting tube adapted to co-operate with the supporting tube pivoted as above set forth to oscillate the device from side to side at adjustable points, two sound boxes with shoulders, two side-moving sound box sleeves fitted over the supporting tube and each extending into the shoulder of one of the sound boxes, two side-moving trigger pin sleeves, each one. fitted over a part of one of the sound box sleeves, a spiral governor provided with 'a guiding groove graduated to correspond with the pitch in the music lines on the face of the disc record of a talking achine, two alternating, vertically moving trlggerpins adapted to co-operate with the spiral governor and th tr gger pm sleeves to oscillate the ..mercury weight tube, two steel springs seated respectively on each of the trigger pins adapted to, hold the same in place, two screws in thesound box sleeves adapted to co-operate with two grooves provided in the bottom f the supporting tube, a bevelled edge on thespiral governor changing into the form of a cam co-operating with the trigger pins. and the trigger pin sleeves t oscillate the mercury weight tube, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the character described,

an oscillating mercury weight tube, a pivot screw balancing said mercury weight tube above the supportlng tube, two alternating,

vertically moving triggerpins adaptedto cooperate with the said mercury weight tube,

substantially as described.

.governorprovided with a bevelled surface merging into a cam, and with a groove graduated to correspond with the lines in the face of the talking machine disk record,

' substantially as described.

pins, a

p 6. In a device of the character described, a supportin tube, two sound boxes, two sound box s eeves, two trigger pin sleeves, twoalternating, vertically moving trigger spiral governor, an oscillating mercury weight tube adapted to cooperate with the spiral governor and the trigger pins, substantially as described.

7. In a device of the character described,

3 two sound box sleeves with a lug on each,

two trigger pin sleeves with a lug on each, an adjustment rod, two small wheels with knurled edges placed on the center. of the adjustment rod, two right hand and two left hand threads on the adjustment rod passing through the four-lugs on the sound box sleeves and on the trigger pin sleeves adapted to adjust the device for talking machine records of varying diameters in the manner substantially as described.

8. In a device of the character described, the combination of two alternating vertically movable trigger pins, a spiral governor and an oscillating mercury weight tube adapted to co-operate with said trigger pins and said governor, substantially as de scribed.

9. In a device of the character described, the combination of a disc record of a talking machine, a supporting tube, two sound box sleeves adapted to fit over the supporting tube, two sound boxes each with a shoulder fitting over one of the sound box sleeves and each sound box provided with a playing needle, two trigger pin sleeves each adapted to fit over a part of one of the sound box sleeves, two alternating, vertically moving trigger pins adapted to fit into the trigger pin sleeves, an adjustment rod connected by lugs with each of the sound box sleeves and each of the trigger pin sleeves, a spiral governor adapted to cooperate with the trigger pin sleeves and the trigger pins to alternately force upward the trigger pins, substantially as described.

10. In a device of the character described, the combination of a disc record of a talking machine, two sound boxes with playing needles, two alternating vertically movable trigger pins, two side-movable trigger.

pin sleeves cooperating with the trigger pins, two side-movable sound box sleeves adapted to co-operate with said trigger pin sleeves and trigger pins to oscillate alternately the needle of one sound box into play and the needle of the other sound box out of play on the opposite side of the disc record, substantially as described.

11. In a device of the character described, a right hand trigger pin sleeve, with a a left hand trigger pin sleeve with a lug, a right hand sound box sleeve with a lug and a left hand sound box sleeve with a lug and an adjustment rod adapted by means of its connection with said lugs to operate as a unit the right hand trigger pin sleeve with the left hand sound box sleeve, and also adapted to operate as a unit the left hand trigger pin sleeve with the right hand sound box sleeve, the above mentioned elements cooperating to adjust the device to records of different size music zones, substantially as described.

12. In a device of the character described, a disk record of-a talking machine, a rotating spiral governor adapted to fit over the spindle of the turn-table of the talking machine and having upon its upper surface a bevelled space which gradually merges into acam with a groove running up the said bevelled space and cam, graduated according to the lines on the face or the disk record, substantially as described.

13. In a device of the character described, a supporting tube, a mercury weight tube, a sound box having a shoulder, a side-moving sound box sleeve fitted over part of the supporting tube and extending into the shoulder of the sound box, a trigger pin sleeve, a trigger pin, the said sound box sleeve and the said supporting tube being provided with slots and said trigger pin sleeves being provided with holes for the passage of a trigger pin adapted to oscillate the mercury weight tube, substantially as described.

14;. In a device of the character described, the combination of a side-movable sound box sleeve, a side-movable trigger pin sleeve fitting over a part of the said sound box sleeve, a trigger pin adapted to cooperate with said sound box sleeve and said trigger pin sleeve, substantially as described.

15. In a device of the character described, the combination of a trigger pin sleeve, a sound box sleeve, a supporting tube, an alternating vertically movable trigger pin passing through holes provided in the said trigger pin sleeve and through slots provided in the said sound box sleeve and in the supporting tube and adapted to cooperate with said trigger pin sleeve, said sound box sleeve and said supporting tube, substantially as described.

16. In a device of the character described, the combination of a disk record for talking machines, two sound box sleeves, two trigger pin sleeves, a lug on each of said sound box sleeves, a lug on each of said trigger pin sleeves, and an adjustment rod having two right hand threads and two left hand threads engaging corresponding threads in said lugs and adapted to adjust the whole device to disk records of varying music zones substantially as described.

17. In a device of the character described, the combination of a supporting tube, an oscillating Weight tube pivoted above the center of the supporting tube, means for effecting oscillation of said weight tube said means operated by power independent of the feeding power of the record groove.

18.111 a device of the character de 15 elements for completing tilt movement and 20 sound boxes with needles controlled by said tilting inoven'ient, substantially as described. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ADRIAB. CLIFFORD BALSON. 

